Corrigendum: Plastic biodegradation by in vitro environmental microorganisms and in vivo gut microorganisms of insects.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1001750.].

Plastic biodegradation by in vitro environmental microorganisms and in vivo gut microorganisms of insects.

Traditional plastics, such as polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane (PUR), and other plastic polymers, are difficult to degrade and are gradually accumulated in the environment to cause a serious environmental problem, which is urgently needed to develop novel treatments or control technology. The biodegradation of plastics has gained great attention due to the advantages of green and safe characteristics. Microorganisms play a vital role in the biodegradation of plastics, including environmental microbes (in vitro) and gut microbes of insects (in vivo). Microbial degradation in environmental conditions in vitro is extremely slow for major plastics at degradation rates on the basis of a month or even a year time, but recent discoveries show that the fast biodegradation of specific plastics, such as PS, PE, and PUR, in some invertebrates, especially insects, could be enhanced at rates on basis of hours; the biodegradation in insects is likely to be gut microbial-dependent or synergetic bioreactions in animal digestive systems. This review comprehensively summarizes the latest 7-year (2016-2022) publications on plastic biodegradation by insects and microorganisms, elucidates the mechanism of plastic degradation in insects and environmental microbes, and highlights the cutting-edge perspectives for the potential applications of plastic biodegradation.

Role of germ-free animal models in understanding interactions of gut microbiota to host and environmental health: A special reference to zebrafish.

Numerous pieces of evidence documented the importance of gut microbiota in regulating human health and evaluating the toxicity of environmental pollutants, which are closely related to the host health in various aspects, including nutrition, energy translation, metabolism, pathogen resistance, and immune function. A variety of environmental factors can disrupt gut microbiota and their functions, and inevitably cause immune diseases, obesity and diabetes. However, deciphering the inner mechanisms involved in the functional interaction of gut microbes with host health is still needed extensive investigations. This review focused on the essential roles of intestinal microbes in host-related diseases and highlighted the development and applications of germ-free (GF) animal models, mainly zebrafish. Moreover, the generation, immunity characters, advantages and challenges of GF zebrafish models were also summarized. Importantly, the composition and isolation of zebrafish gut bacteria for further application and toxicity evaluation of aquatic environmental pollutants were also discussed. In conclusion, GF zebrafish play irreplaceable roles in understanding the potential functions and responses of customized microbiota towards human and environmental health implications.

Long noncoding RNA LINC01194 enhances the malignancy of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma by sponging miR-655 to increase SOX18 expression.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have undergone a comprehensive study for their involvements in tumor treatments. The purpose of our study was to explore the biological effects and regulatory mechanisms of lncRNA LINC01194 (LINC01194) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). The levels of LINC01194 in 105 LSCC patients were detected by RT-qPCR. The diagnostic and prognostic value of LINC01194 in LSCC patients were statistically analyzed. The potential functions of LINC01194 in proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis of LSCC cells were evaluated. The interaction among LINC01194, miR-655 and SOX18 was explored by bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assays and biotinylated RNA pull-down. We found that the expression levels of LINC01194 were highly expressed in LSCC, which was negatively correlated with the clinical outcome of LSCC patients. The area under the ROC curve for LINC01194 was up to 0.8388. Functional assays indicated that LINC01194 knockdown distinctly inhibited LSCC cells proliferation, induced apoptosis, and also attenuated LSCC cells migration and invasion in vitro. Furthermore, we elucidated that LINC01194 promoted SOX18 expression in LSCC cells via functioning as a molecular sponge for miR-655. Overall, based on our findings, LINC01194 served as a tumor promoter and potentially represents a novel prognostic indicator and therapeutic target in LSCC.

The Establishment of an In Vivo HIV-1 Infection Model in Humanized B-NSG Mice.

Suitable animal models for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection are important for elucidating viral pathogenesis and evaluating antiviral strategies in vivo. The B-NSG (NOD-PrkdcscidIl2rgtm1/Bcge) mice that have severe immune defect phenotype are examined for the suitability of such a model in this study. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were engrafted into B-NSG mice via mouse tail vein injection, and the repopulated human T-lymphocytes were observed at as early as 3-weeks post-transplantation in mouse peripheral blood and several tissues. The humanized mice could be infected by HIV-1, and the infection recapitulated features of T-lymphocyte dynamic observed in HIV-1 infected humans, meanwhile the administration of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) suppressed viral replication and restored T lymphocyte abnormalities. The establishment of HIV-1 infected humanized B-NSG mice not only provides a model to study virus and T cell interplays, but also can be a useful tool to evaluate antiviral strategies.